As the owners of a new bed and breakfast opening this weekend in Saratoga Springs, Eilis and Jim Petrosino are trying various techniques to attract guests to The Inn at Five Points.

That includes listing rooms on the popular but controversial website Airbnb.

“I guess you could say we’re throwing ourselves into many avenues and seeing which ones are the best for our future,” said Eilis, 33.

Airbnb has grown quickly since it began eight years ago, with 2 million listings and 80 million guests in 34,000 cities worldwide. The San Francisco company is a darling of investors in the so-called sharing economy, with a $25 billion valuation and speculation over whether it will go public.

The Petrosinos pay nothing up front to advertise, but are charged a 3 percent commission for any bookings. So far, they have received three reservations through Airbnb, including two stays during this summer’s Dave Matthews Band concert at Saratoga Performing Arts Center.

“That’s the key for us now, foot traffic,” said Eilis (pronounced A-litch).

The simplicity and convenience of searching for a room, viewing photos, connecting directly with the owner, and agreeing on the cost and other terms appeals to many people, especially those under 30 accustomed to living so much of their life online.

As the popularity of Airbnb spreads from major metropolitan areas and vacation hot spots to places like Saratoga Springs and Albany, a battle against the online rental behemoth is heating up.

Many listings on Airbnb are not at licensed B&Bs, such as The Inn at Five Points, but in private residences, where owners lease out a spare room or an entire house for a night or week. In some big cities, investors buy apartments just to rent them to Airbnb travelers.

The hospitality industry argues most Airbnb hosts are making money without collecting sales and occupancy taxes or complying with the myriad health and safety laws governing hotels, inns and B&Bs.

“It’s an entire underground business going unregulated and uninsured,” said Jan Chesterton, president of the New York State Hospitality & Tourism Association, a trade group based in Albany.

State law prohibits renting an apartment for less than 30 days in a building with three or more units unless a permanent resident is present. Many cities and towns also have restrictions, though enforcement typically depends on receiving complaints from neighbors.

A bill that has yet to be introduced in the state Legislature would place additional restrictions on short-term rentals in private dwellings, including requiring proof of insurance, a real estate rental agreement and/or collecting sales and occupancy taxes. The hospitality association is walking a line because it doesn’t want to clamp down on what it considers “legitimate” short-term, seasonal rentals.

“We don’t want them to get caught in the crossfire,” Chesterton said.

Airbnb has the financial muscle to fight laws it believes would hurt its bottom line. The company is willing to collect taxes on behalf of hosts, but can’t do so without permission from the state.

New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman released a report in October 2014 saying 72 percent of private, short-term rentals in New York City through Airbnb during a four-year period appeared to have violated state and local laws.

Airbnb disputed the report’s findings. The company says the majority of its hosts are sharing their private home as a way to make extra money, and that it is helping “everyday New Yorkers” afford to live in an expensive state.

The company also says there are resources on its website to make sure hosts have a safe and healthy space for guests, and insurance policies are provided.

The fight over Airbnb thus far has been most intense in New York City, with its roughly 110,000 hotel rooms, more than 55 million visitors annually, and powerful hotel unions. Airbnb has more than 40,000 listings in the city, its single largest market. The attacks on the website are similar to the way ride-hailing service Uber has been criticized by taxi drivers, who see it as a threat to their incomes.

Concerns about Airbnb are spreading elsewhere in the state as the popularity of the service grows beyond hip neighborhoods in Manhattan and Brooklyn.

Last year, 274,600 visitors stayed in listings in New York state outside New York City, including 40,500 in the Albany-Saratoga region, according to Airbnb.

As of this week, there were more than 300 property listings each in Albany, Saratoga Springs and Lake George, a worrisome sign to some in the hospitality industry.

Kathy Flacke Muncil, CEO of Fort William Henry Corp., is among those not buying the argument Airbnb is a platform to help property owners struggling with the high cost of living in New York.

“They’re making it sound like it’s apple pie and all-American when, in reality, it’s a technology that pays a lot of money to marketers and lobbyists to spin a story that’s not all true,” said Muncil, whose company operates the 193-room Fort William Henry Hotel and Conference Center and the 87-room Best Western in Lake George.

Muncil hasn’t seen a direct impact on bookings as a result of Airbnb, but she’s alarmed by the growing number of listings in the lakeside community.

“Generally speaking, studies have identified that once the population [of Airbnb] listings gets close to 5 percent of the hotel population, it will begin to hurt,” she said.

The potential fallout is greater in Saratoga Springs, with 1,962 hotel rooms available this summer and hundreds more in the pipeline.

Todd Garofano, president of Saratoga Convention and Visitors Bureau, recently checked availability on Airbnb for a two-night stay during opening weekend of Saratoga Race Course in July and found there were 149 listings still available at an average rate of $188.

The number of listings was like “another hotel in town that’s not playing by the same rules as our hotel industry,” he said.

Saratoga Springs has a long tradition of property owners renting out their homes during track season, but Garofano said the Airbnb model is different, and potentially disruptive to neighbors.

“Often, when you rent a house for the season, you go through a Realtor, so there’s a contract,” he said. “You have proper insurance. It’s just a different set of circumstances.”

The average hotel occupancy rate has declined 11 straight months in Saratoga County as demand cooled and inventory grew, according to STR Inc., a hospitality analytics firm. While Airbnb isn’t considered the primary culprit — officials say the decline has more to do with wider business trends — Airbnb listings could start to have an impact.

“Anybody who has a legal accommodation business should be concerned,” said Cindy Hollowood, general manager of the Holiday Inn on Broadway.

For now, at least, the Petrosinos at The Inn at Five Points see Airbnb as a way to spread the word about their new B&B, a Victorian-era home several blocks from downtown. In five years, after they’ve established a clientele, they may no longer use the service.

“I think, like anything else, it works for some but not for others,” Eilis said.